Hot 8 Brass Band

Formed in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1995, the Hot 8 Brass Band is a group that blends jazz, Dixieland, hip-hop, and funk into an interesting new take on the brass band sound. They came to prominence after appearing in Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The group was formed by Bennie Pete, Jerome Jones, and Harry Cook and merged members of two earlier brass bands: the High Steppers Brass Band and the Looney Tunes Brass Band. The band performs regularly at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, in local jazz nightclubs, second line parades, and at traditional jazz funerals. They’ve also toured outside the U.S., performing in England, Japan, Spain, France, Italy, and Finland. They released their independently-released debut album Rock with the Hot 8 in 2005. Two years later, they were the first U.S. band to sign with UK-based label Tru Thoughts, who reissued their debut album. The Life & Times Of… was released in 2012, followed by Tombstone (2013), Vicennial: 20 Years of the Hot 8 Brass Band (2015), and On the Spot (2017). Although the Hot 8 Brass Band has achieved a good level of success, they’ve also been hit with a fair amount of tragedy. Three members – past and present – met violent deaths including trumpet players Jacob Johnson and Shotgun Joe Williams, and drummer Dinerral ‘Dick’ Shavers.

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